


Web of Dreams

by Morefiercethanfire



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-18
Updated: 2015-10-18
Packaged: 2018-04-26 23:49:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5025460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morefiercethanfire/pseuds/Morefiercethanfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Buffy should really stop messing with stuff first and asking questions later.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Web of Dreams

Buffy wasn't happy. She had intended to spend her summer vacation on the beach or at the mall with her friends, but apparently her parents had other ideas. Her dad had called recently and asked if Buffy would like to come to LA to visit him for the summer, and her mom had said yes, without even asking her! It had something to do with spending 'quality time' with her father and getting to know him better since the divorce or something like that. Personally, Buffy would've been much happier without the trip. All she wanted were days filled with parties, shopping sprees, and all the stuff a teenage girl normally does over summer vacation. That is, if being the vampire slayer and saving the world almost daily could ever be considered normal.

So far, the summer had been one long snoozefest. Her dad was working for an insurance company, which meant that she was spending her days at bridge parties and neighborhood barbeques, listening to her dad's business associates say how charming she was, ask about her college plans, and say how many stories they'd heard about her. And then there were all those long, boring lectures given by even more boring professors on the incredibly boring world of finances! Her enthusiasm for all of it must have shown through, because her dad had tried explaining about how networking worked and how acquaintances could help her with school and career plans before taking her shopping. They'd gone through the whole mall, from Macy's to Hot Topic, and Buffy was a good two hundred dollars worth of clothes richer, but she'd rather have been with her friends, even if she'd only have five dollars to spend.

Her dad didn't seem to understand or care about LA being the fashion capital of the world- instead he offered to take her to Knotts Berry Farm, like she was six years old, and didn't understand when she was less than thrilled about it. Eventually, he'd seemed to come to terms with her lack of desire to be there, but she was still stuck with following his schedule. And today that schedule included a visit to the LA County Museum of Art. Buffy had gone to LACMA with her class back in seventh grade, and she really hadn't been that excited to go back. Paintings and statues really didn't do it for her, but as it turned out, the trip was a lot cooler than she expected. For one thing, she got to get a sneak peek at a new exhibit, which meant going into the back, which visitors usually didn't get to see.

She didn't know what she'd expected, but a routine insurance checkup on the artifacts before the exhibit wasn't it. Buffy tried to at least pretend to be interested, but after an hour of listening to the curator show off one stupid rock after another, she was more than ready to leave. Her father was either better at pretending than she was, or more interested, because he just followed the guy around and wrote about everything in his notebook. Buffy picked up one of the statuettes and examined it for about a nanosecond before one of the techs in the lab coats snatched it away. She waited until he'd turned his back, then stuck her tongue out at him and started after her dad again.

He and the museum curator were standing in front of a weird stone that looked like someone had broken it, talking about intrinsic value and depreciating loans or something boring like that. Buffy was about to ask her dad if she could go upstairs to the museum cafe when she caught sight of the card laid out next to the rock. “Mayan Dream Stone,” she murmured softly. “Huh. Cool.”

The curator turned to look at her. “Oh, indeed. We've dated this back to about 500 AD, much earlier than we first thought,” he told her. “It's the first one that we've ever found, and it's said to have magical powers, you know. People would come to the temple and lay hands on it, and it would take their bad dreams away.” Buffy gave him a clearly skeptical look and he gestured at the stone. “Why don't you try it?”

She put her hand out, then hesitated. “How come you know about it being magical? Weren't the Maya supposed to have like, disappeared with no trace?”

He chuckled. “Very good, and I don't actually know that for certain. But it was found on a dig in Palenque, near the tomb of Pacal. It was on a pedestal with statues of balams around it. The Maya used them to ensure that they would be safe while they slept, and if you look on the stone, here-” He traced one of the carvings. “You'll see a balam as well.”

“Wow. Cool.”

“Oh yes. Now, I'm really not supposed to tell anybody about this, but you look like a young lady who can keep a secret.” Leaning forward, the curator whispered, “The stone was surrounded by at least twenty skeletons, so we think there was some kind of ritual sacrifice to ensure its magic was strong.” He smiled when he saw her eyes widen, congratulating himself on sparking her interest.

Skeletons? Now Buffy was interested. “So how did the people die?” she asked, wondering if maybe she should let Giles know about this.

The curator didn't have a chance to answer, because her dad called out to him and he turned away to answer his question. Buffy reached out to run a hand over the stone, wondering about all the people that had died around it, when her dad called her as well. She jerked her hand away, slicing one finger open with the movement. “Ow!” Sticking her finger in her mouth, she sucked on the cut, then went to ask the curator for a band-aid. She never noticed the way the air around the stone rippled and churned as she walked away.


End file.
